Hennepin County attorney primary/Martha Holton Dimick: I'll put the work back where it needs to be

Opinion editor's note: Star Tribune Opinion publishes a mix of national and local commentaries online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

•••

As the next Hennepin County attorney, I have two major priorities: to rebuild trust and to restore effectiveness in the office. Yes, the plan is that simple. I am not a politician, and I had never imagined running for political office after more than 20 years as a prosecutor, deputy city attorney and district judge. Then, in 2020, the world changed.

First, George Floyd was murdered. That nine-minute video affected me deeply. I was depressed. I had a familiar feeling after 60 years in this country as a Black person: Things still haven't gotten better for us. My colleagues and I tried to put out a statement, but we were prohibited from doing so as judges.

Then the Minneapolis City Council pledged to "defund and dismantle" the police. I lived in north Minneapolis in the early 1990s. I know what it's like being neglected by public servants — including police. We are left to solve our problems on our own. It is not the utopia that these young activists envisioned when they attempted to stand in solidarity with my community at Powderhorn Park. But as a judge, I had to be careful, so I held my tongue publicly for the next year.

One weekend the following summer, four people were shot within a mile of my house, one of them was a young child. There were no protesters, no TV coverage, just an article on an inside page of the newspaper. Around that time, I decided it was time to get off the sidelines and run for Hennepin County attorney.

I am new to politics, but I thought politicians were supposed to be accountable to the voices of regular people in the community. Even in the midst of a record violent crime surge, not a single state legislator in Minneapolis came out against the failed ballot question that grew out of the Minneapolis City Council's pledge to dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department. This charter amendment, supposedly advanced on my behalf as a Black person, lost 64-36 in my neighborhood and 2-0 in my household. Our politicians, once again, listened to a few loud voices over the majority. They are out of touch with reality.

In 2009, we had seven homicides in north Minneapolis. Last year, there were 46.

Unbeknown to many outside the criminal justice system, Minnesota — and especially Hennepin County — already takes one of the most progressive approaches to prosecution anywhere in the country. We have the fourth-lowest incarceration rate in the country.

I believe that our more lenient approach to prosecution is good as long as we fulfill our core responsibilities as prosecutors and law enforcement. Over the last two years, we have not. Car thieves know they will be released on the same day without bail; juvenile carjackers have nowhere to be placed for short-term detention or treatment, and dozens of homicides in Minneapolis from 2021 remain unsolved. And our leaders stood on a stage and told the world that we would end policing in Minneapolis. Since the murder of George Floyd, many criminals have heard the message that we don't care about their actions, and they have acted accordingly.

My first priority right now is to restore the effectiveness of the office by emphasizing our core responsibility: swift, effective and fair prosecution. And we need to send a clear message that we care about crime and that we will prosecute. We should also give people who make mistakes second chances, bolster alternatives to incarceration and continue the fight for reform.

My second priority is rebuilding trust in the office. We need to rebuild trust with everyone: law enforcement, public defenders and, most important, community members. You cannot accomplish your mission without the support of your partners.